


Love Spells

by BakedTofu



Category: Castlevania (Cartoon)
Genre: Books, F/M, Femdom, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gentle femdom, Languages, LenectorWeekened2021, Manipulation, Master/Pet, Masturbation, Medium Burn, Misunderstandings, Pining, Praise Kink, mild himbo Hector
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 17:47:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29405739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BakedTofu/pseuds/BakedTofu
Summary: Hoping to find magic books that will help him out of his situation, Hector stumbles on some interesting books while looking around Lenore’s study in the daytime. As he reads them and spends time with Lenore he begins to reexamine his perspective of Lenore and the situation he's in.Done for Lenector Weekend 2021 Day 2 Books/TurningNote: This fic is currently rated M, but there's a planned explicit sex scene in the last chapter. Relevant warnings will be added to the chapter notes.
Relationships: Hector/Lenore (Castlevania)
Comments: 41
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some notes about languages in this story: I assume most vampires are multilingual since they have a lot of time to learn whatever they want. A diplomat like Lenore probably knows more than most others. I’m also assuming vampires stick to speaking the native language of whatever land they’re in for the most part. In regards to Hector, we know he would be fluent in Greek because he’s from Greece, we can assume he knows Latin because the book Lenore gave him was written in Latin, and Hector is literate (Latin was commonly used for writing in the middle ages), he also likely developed working proficiency in Romanian while working for Dracula. In this fic those are the only three languages he knows.

It had been a day or two since Hector became Styria’s new forgemaster slave. While the outbuilding Lenore had promised he’d get to live in was undergoing renovations, she allowed him to stay in her chambers for the time being. Although perhaps _allowed_ wasn’t the right term, it was more as though she gave him an enthusiastic invitation he couldn’t refuse. She welcomed him into her bed too, but Hector chose to take advantage of the molecule of autonomy she gave him and elected to sleep on a divan _outside_ of her bedroom on principle. 

Hector wasn’t exactly eager to spend more time with Lenore after she betrayed him and then belittled him in front of his new “bosses.” He was thankful that she wouldn’t force him into “training,” at least, whatever the hell that was supposed to entail, if he didn’t want to. But he suspected she'd somehow trick him into it. She’d find a way to take advantage of his lingering desire and curiosity... If only she didn’t seem like she actually cared about him sometimes… it’d be easier to keep up his protest. 

Although, as the initial shock of his situation wore off, he accepted that he couldn’t fight his way out of this. His only course of action would be to bide his time, play nice, be civil with Lenore, and look for some sort of loophole or counterspell to the one on the ring. Hopefully he could quietly vanish when the time was right. Though finding a counterspell wouldn’t be easy. He was always being watched, or at least it felt that way. Maybe he could hope for rescue. No. That would never happen. He’d gotten out of every other miserable situation life threw at him entirely on his own. 

For now, he was quietly focused on finding one or two small things to hold onto to stay sane, or any sort of distraction from his situation. He could enjoy the daylight hours when he was left alone, and small sunbeams he was able to sit in sometimes. He was given freedom of the castle (minus the private chambers of the rest of the council, for obvious reasons), but he still wasn’t comfortable wandering around without Lenore being nearby, even during the day when most of its inhabitants were sleeping. He wanted no risk of running into Carmilla alone. As much as Lenore’s betrayal stung he was still thankful for what protection she offered. He felt safer exploring Lenore’s personal chambers on his own for the time being, so that's what he would do when he was up during the day. 

Lenore’s personal chambers were made up of several adjoined rooms. The first room one entered was something of a parlor room that led to the others. To the left was a small dining area, directly in the back was an office, and to the right were her bed chambers, dressing room, and private bath. She said he was free to explore all of it as much as he liked, and that he need not hesitate to ask for anything. 

The office interested him the most. It had a lot of books, and a large window “for letting in the starlight,” as she put it, that happened to let in a lot of sun during the right daylight hours. And so, the office was the first place he set out to explore during the day. 

Hector didn’t expect to find any magic books in Lenore’s office, but it wouldn’t hurt to try. He opened the curtains, then went to the first book case and started systematically pulling out books one by one and skimming through them. Luckily, the majority were written in Greek or Latin, but he grew worried about finding a solution as he encountered new alphabets and languages he couldn’t read. The language he probably saw most frequently after the usual two was German. He’d picked up a few words and phrases (likely profanities) from Carmilla’s army on the hell march they dragged him on, but nowhere near enough to be conversational, let alone literate. 

He wondered if he could find a way to learn to read German in secret, but he also wondered if he would need to. Lenore freely encouraged him to explore her chambers and the rest of the castle. She also always made a point of speaking Greek or Romanian around him, even when she was addressing other people and he wasn’t involved in the conversation. It seemed like she wasn’t hiding anything from him. Or maybe that was just what she wanted him to think? Hector gave up trying to answer that question and went back to the books. 

Most seemed to concern the histories of various vampire kingdoms, and vampire sire lineage. Even the ones he couldn’t read seemed to be structured in the same way, and were probably about the same topics. That made sense for a diplomat. After an hour or so, he made his way through the entire bookcase, and decided none of it’s contents would be an immediate help to him. He moved onto the next.

The first book he pulled out was on how to best care for arachnids. That seemed like an odd thing for Lenore to have. Maybe it had something to do with the painting in the other room of Lenore with a spider perched on her hand. Regardless, he wanted to look into the book more a little later out of curiosity. Maybe he’d ask her about it. That might make for a pleasant conversation. The next book was on the care of bats, the next on the care of horses, and the next on the care of dogs. He missed his own pets, but he smiled as he looked through these books. Then he realized how this particular shelf was organized and sighed. There’d probably be a book here on the care of humans. Turned out there were several. He decided he didn’t want to read too deeply into them.

Hector moved onto the next shelf and pulled out another book. He felt a chill run through his body when he saw the title: _Love Spells: volume1_ . Thank God it was in Latin. Part of him suspected she would know better than to easily grant him access to anything he might find a counterspell in… but this book being here, combined with Hector’s theory made too much sense. Of course she used some spell to make him give into her so easily. She probably enchanted the apple she gave him. He remembered what she said about it " _It’s not poison."_ No, it wasn't poison. _Oh, but there is an enchantment on it that will make you fall in love with me and happily agree to be my slave. I hope you don’t mind._ He could almost hear her saying that.

Or maybe it was the collar that she enchanted. 

_The collar._

She had to have enchanted that damn collar… or maybe it was the leash. 

After she took the collar off of him. That was the night all of those _feelings_ started happening. That was the night he made the mistake of beginning to trust her. After that, focusing on the book she gave him wasn’t possible. She’d barely touched him, yet her scent lingered and he could only think of her. He had to do what was necessary to clear his head first... at least that cell afforded a little more privacy than the one he’d been in prior. 

Hector doubted he’d find a counter to whatever love enchantment she used or was continuing to use, but if he could figure out exactly what spell she placed him under it might be easier to resist. He opened the book.

The first page consisted of metered verse… elegiac couplets… about a vampire pining for their female lover. It didn’t appear to be a spell at first glance. No objective was made clear. This wasn’t what he expected to find… maybe the magic was buried in some sort of code or puzzle? or maybe this was advanced vampire magic? Could that be why this looked nothing like a normal magic book? This didn’t even look like the vampire magic book she lent him earlier. His eyes narrowed. Hector continued to read. 

More metered verse followed. They all seemed to be about… vampire lovers… writing back and forth to each other… women writing to men, men writing to men, men writing to women, women writing to women. There were even one or two that were about love between triads. It didn’t seem terribly different from what he knew of human poetry. But none were about the process of falling in love, love had already been there for centuries. And some of it was exceptionally explicit. It differed from standard human poetry in that regard. Then again, humans could probably come up with poems just as explicit as these if they didn’t have to conform to certain standards to be accepted by their own kind. 

He stumbled onto a page… a vampire woman praising her lover for his skill with his mouth between her legs. Hector paused. He placed the book down for a moment and cracked opened the window. 

Something about the contents of that page felt too familiar for comfort. She even praised him, " _good boy_." It brought back painfully pleasant memories he wished he could forget.

Hector sat down and picked up the book again. 

Even though he nearly buried all hope of ever finding a lover, let alone a wife, that particular act was something he always wanted to do. He just never had the chance or had the right person… did he always feel that way? Or did it only feel like it had always been that way from the moment he lifted her skirt? He wanted to kiss her all over. The sweet sounds she made… feeling her soft thighs against his face… the satisfaction pleasing her gave him felt the same as finally being able to eat a full meal after being starved for a month. Only he’d been starved for the vast majority of his life. That had to be magic… there’s no other way he would have enjoyed it so much… if only she hadn’t been so awful- 

His hands trembled as he read over the page again, and again. He was looking for any type of code or hidden message. He tried looking at the page from different angles, viewing it’s reflection in the window’s glass, reading it backwards, looking at the first letter of each word to see if they said anything meaningful. He even tried simple incantations to see if any messages were hidden on the page in magic. Nothing was fruitful. He grew frustrated and increasingly paranoid. What if reading this book now was actually amplifying whatever enchantment Lenore put on him? That was very possible.

Hector told himself he should stop reading. Maybe the next volume would be easier to decipher. As Hector placed the book back on the shelf and went to grab the next he glanced out the window and realized it was nearly dusk. Everyone would be waking up soon. He let go of the book for now. He’d be back tomorrow. Hopefully he’d make better use of his time.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hector spends some time with Lenore at night when he's not working, and reads some more of the suspected love magic books during the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When Hektor is spelled with a k, it's referencing the character in The Iliad, not Lenore's pet Hector.

The sun had set. Lenore emerged from her room shortly after breakfast was brought in. Hector had already begun to eat. A cup of tea and plate of waffles rested in front of him. Lenore had told him previously there was no need to wait for her at sunset. 

Resolved to stay on good behavior until an opportunity for escape presented itself, Hector got up, politely greeted her and pulled out her chair. She pat his head after sitting down. Hector knew he shouldn't like it, but it felt nice, possibly the lingering results of a spell. He forced a smile. 

“Did you sleep well?” she asked while pouring herself tea.

“Yes.” He quickly answered and averted his gaze as he sat back down, “Thank you.” 

“Really?” Lenore pried with a mischievous smile, “I heard you moving around." she added blood to her tea the way a human might add oatmilk, "You don’t look like you got much sleep.” 

“Ah.. yes… well,” he stumbled over his words, “I wanted to get some sunlight while I could. I found an interesting book on spiders and stayed up longer than I planned to..” he was thankful for the caffeine. He would have forgotten about finding those books otherwise. 

Lenore excitedly clasped her hands together, "Lovely! Do you like spiders?"

Hector was relieved his answer satisfied her. Hopefully he wouldn't have to worry about her finding out what he was really reading during the day. He wasn’t technically lying, he just wasn’t telling her the full truth. Vampire ears picking up on him hiding something was still cause for concern. 

He did want to talk about this though, he smiled as he answered, "I never really thought about them much before. I like animals… and I suppose spiders aren't much different from other animals." 

"All animals have their similarities. But they also have unique traits that make them special individuals. Even spiders. I had one about a century ago. She was so sweet." 

"... is that what that portrait is about?" he cautiously asked. 

"You noticed!! Yes!" she beamed. 

"I'm guessing there's some story behind it all?" He was tempted to ask if Lenore promised to run away with the spider too, but decided against that. 

"There is. One day I found her in the library with a broken leg and I nursed her back to health." Lenore brought her hand to her cheek, looked over to the portrait that hung on the wall and began to reminisce, "Once she recovered she loved making tunnels and reinforcing them with webs, and she had the cutest way of pouncing on her prey too! She was quite relaxed and calm generally… she was so well behaved when we sat for that portrait. I even took her to council meetings with me sometimes. Carmilla was never fond of that." she laughed to herself. 

Hector thought back to the other books on the shelf and wondered how many other pets she'd had and where he fit into it all. Maybe she wasn’t as evil as he came to think she was. The story seemed bizarrely endearing. Maybe she was just a little insane. "Did she have a name?"

"Of course she did… my little Arachne." Lenore said this in Romanian. Up until now they'd both been speaking Greek. 

"Arachne?" 

There was a short pause. Then Hector smiled. He almost started to laugh and asked in Greek, "You named the spider-?" 

Hector didn’t get to finish that question. Lenore picked up a strawberry and pressed it against his lips, silencing him.

"It's sounds cute.” she said in Romanian. 

This was odd. Sure, naming a spider Spider was a little strange, but Hector had no idea what was going on with the berry. Was he supposed to eat it? Or do something else? Eating it probably made the most sense. He took it into his mouth and ate it slowly, more out of confusion than any attempt to be seductive. Lenore softly laughed. 

"You still look tired. I wish you wouldn't shy away from my bed. It's very comfortable and there's more than enough room for you. I can keep my hands to myself." 

"... I have to decline that offer." He knew he'd need to give in eventually to keep up the 'good boy' charade. However, now he wanted to avoid it more because he knew Lenore would catch him leaving it to read during the day than because he wanted to make a point of exercising what little autonomy he had. Investigating whatever enchantment she placed on him was his highest priority now. 

"You know, you might enjoy yourself if you stopped rejecting my offer." 

"Forgive me for exercising what little freedom you've given me.” he answered dryly. 

“So, you don’t use your freedom to roam the castle grounds unaccompanied, but you will use it to refuse a comfortable bed?” 

Hector frowned, "I don’t want to get lost and run into  _ her _ .” 

“Then I’ll have to spend more time showing you around.” 

* * *

After breakfast Lenore escorted Hector to the forge. Before leaving to see to her own duties, she pat him on the head and told him “be a good boy for your Aunt Striga.” 

Striga kept her eyes on Lenore as she left. After Lenore was out of vampire earshot, Striga told Hector, “If she’s affecting your ability to work, let me know. I’ll fix it.” 

“Thank you,” Hector shyly said. "Everything is fine." Striga had treated him professionally ever since he started forging for them, and she seemed reasonable, so he wasn’t as uneasy being around her as he was with the others. But he still didn’t want to risk saying anything to her that might make its way back to Lenore. Not to mention her question was unsettling in its own way. 

“She’s too far away to hear us. But if you’re that nervous, two blinks means she’s affecting your ability to work.” 

“Everything is fine.” he said again. 

“Good. Lenore shows more restraint than Carmilla or Morana does when it comes to most things. But she sometimes goes overboard when she truly gets angry, or when she gets really excited about something. If that changes, and your abilities become compromised, let me know.” 

He’d experienced her anger during their first meeting. He wasn’t sure he wanted to see what her excitement looked like. But he was still curious. Probably because of whatever enchantment she used. 

“Thank you,” Hector said as he awkwardly began splitting open the chest of the body on the forge table in preparation for forging. “I will.” 

Hector worked for some hours until Lenore returned around midnight to pull him away for his lunch break. 

Hector was glad their conversation never went back into what books he’d been reading, or any kind of magic. He was fairly confident he hadn’t aroused suspicion. He went along with everything else Lenore brought up. Though he was at a loss when she showed him several fabric swatches to choose what his new clothing would be made from. She seemed to be trying to give him as many little freedoms as she could, as if they somehow made up for the enormous amount of freedom she'd taken from him. He carefully looked them over, and tried to find a favorite, but had no real preference for any of them. They were all nice. He couldn’t decide on one, so he asked Lenore to go with what she thought would look best on him. She smiled and presented him with her choice: a shade of blue that would nicely bring out his eyes. 

They spoke a little more before they both went back to their respective duties. Hector forged for the rest of the night. Lenore collected him at the end of his shift for dinner, shortly before dawn. 

Hector was pretty sure he successfully evaded suspicion for the remainder of the night. He couldn’t stay up later than Lenore and sneak off to read books again. It’s more likely she’d catch him doing that. He was also exhausted and didn’t have it in him. But he wanted to make sure he’d wake up around noon and have a few hours to read before going back to sleep. He left a curtain open just enough to let a little bit of sun into the room around then. It’d be enough to wake him, but not so much that Lenore couldn’t navigate the room if she happened to wake up. After that he finally went to sleep. 

The plan worked, the sun woke him up around 1pm. He knew Lenore could hear him no matter how quiet he was if she was awake, but he still tried to be as quiet as possible as he slipped into her office. 

He opened the curtains and made a nice sunbeam for himself again, took the second volume in the _ Love Spells _ collection out, got comfortable in a big chair with a blanket and began reading. 

The first volume was in Latin, but this one was in Greek for some reason. He feared he’d run into volumes he couldn’t read if language wasn’t consistent between them. But he had no time to worry about that now. He had to make efficient use of his time, make his way through these books and figure out what enchantment Lenore had him under.

This volume seemed to be completely in dactylic hexameter. It looked even less like a magic book than the last volume. Maybe each one got harder to decipher? It didn’t matter, he wasn’t going to risk looking at the first volume again now. That might make the enchantment worse again. He’d read this one and try to make sense of it. 

Familiar names came up… Achilles, Patroclus, Paris, Hektor… but this wasn’t  _ The Iliad _ . It bore resemblance to  _ The Iliad _ , … but they were all vampires for some reason. A ridiculous amount of verses were devoted to describing how attractive they all were. And the friendship between Achilles and Patroclus was extremely close.. and extremely explicit… actually they seemed to be a lot more than friends in whatever this was… 

He got up to a diplomatic meeting between Achilles and Hektor and it began to make even less sense.  _ Achilles and Hektor were supposed to be enemies… so why were they... ? Didn’t Hektor have a wife and child he was devoted to?! _

Hector sighed and flipped forward through several chapters. He wanted to make the best use of his time and didn’t think this book would have answers, but he still didn’t want to put it down before looking through a little more of it. It got stranger. 

It now seemed as though none of what he read about prior had happened. Here Andromache wasn’t simply begging her husband not to go back to war, she restrained him physically… and it seems after explicit love making they ran away together with their son. It was odd, but in a weird way Hector thought this was a nicer end for his namesake, even if humanity would have found no honor in it. Hector never understood the honor in defending Troy. In all his life he never felt like any city or kingdom was a place where he belonged or could call home. But if you were lucky enough to have even one person that really loved you, shouldn't you put them before everything? Especially so when "everything" was a man that insisted on stealing another man's wife that just happened to have an army at his disposal. 

He flipped through a few more chapters. Somehow Kalypso managed to render Zeus impotent when told to let Odysseus go?? That made absolutely no sense.

Most of it seemed like nonsense, even if it was a little entertaining. He’d go back to check this one over more carefully if he couldn’t find answers in any of the other volumes. He carefully slid the book back into place and took out the third volume. 

This one was in Latin again, in hendecasyllabic verse. Again, it didn’t appear to be a magic book, and it all seemed to tell one story. This story was about humans.  _ Why would she have a story about humans?  _ Maybe this had hidden vampire magic specifically designed to be used on humans. He could think more about that another time. Now he had to spend time reading. He could only afford another hour and a half before he had to get back to sleep. 

As soon as Hector started reading the third volume he forgot all about making the best use of his time. The story interested him too much. He spent the rest of the daylight hours he had over the next four days reading it. It told a story about love between a wealthy noble woman and a young servant boy that worked in the stables of her estate. No puzzles, patterns, or anything special stood out, but Hector found something about the story compelling. The characters were incredibly sympathetic. The boy was unwanted by his family and sold into his position by them. The other servants bullied him for no understandable reason. The horses were his only real companions. 

When he came of age and worked off his debt he had nowhere else to go, so he remained in his position. Then one day the lady of the house decided to start spending more time with the horses and got to know him, and he got to know her. 

Life hadn’t been kind to her either. She was forced into a miserable marriage by her family. She was ridiculed for failing to conceive a child, even though the fault probably fell with her philandering husband. In the end there was a pregnancy, they made plans to run away together, but in some miracle her husband ended up dying. The child inherited his estate, and the lovers were able to marry. 

Even if stories couldn’t turn out like that in real life because of the way human society was, it felt nice to read about them finding each other. They truly seemed to care for each other. She adored him and he worshipped her. The love scenes were so vivid it was a struggle to get through quite a few of them. While reading more than one Hector had to open the window to let cool air in. One forced him to stop reading for a short while. 

In that scene the woman playfully asked the young man to wear a dog collar and leash. He was so love sick he’d do anything for her. He agreed without question. She loved the way he looked in it, and found herself unable to keep her hands off of him. She was commanding and aggressive while still being kind. He was overjoyed to be a source of pleasure for her and to have her affection and praise. 

The scene made Hector think back to how delicately Lenore first put the collar on him, and how gently she took it off of him. All of those feelings came back. He didn’t like wearing it and being pulled around in front of everyone… but if it had been a situation like the one he just read… where she placed it on him like that… and it was just the two of them alone… and it was used in lovemaking like that… he wouldn’t be opposed to it at all. It reminded him of the way Lenore ran her fingers through his hair and pulled at it while they made love. The way she grabbed at him too… it was as if she really wanted him. Why did it feel that good? 

Hector tried to push those thoughts out of his mind. He needed to focus on finding a spell in here he could reverse. He opened the window. He tried to look for any hidden puzzles, but couldn’t focus enough to look. He couldn’t escape those thoughts. There was only one solution. Put the book down and do what was necessary to clear his head. He prayed Lenore wouldn’t hear him and comment on it the next night. It didn’t take long. After the fact he remembered he theorized that she enchanted that collar in the first place. He was finally able to resume his futile search for any secrets hidden in those pages. 

Hector encountered another scene that had a similar effect. It concerned the woman stimulating the young man by penetrating him… the young man was entirely at her mercy. He was afraid at first, but she helped him relax and once they started he enjoyed every moment of it. Hector had previously thought men only did that sort of thing with other men. Somehow the thought of a woman doing that was incredibly desirable… Hector felt a chill run through his body when the realization that this might be part of that “training” Lenore mentioned crossed his mind. It wasn’t an unpleasant thought. He wouldn’t be entirely opposed to trying it if he felt like he could trust her. Or was the thought only unpleasant because of whatever enchantment he was under? No maybe not, he’d like to try this with a nice lady. But now Lenore was the only person he’d be able to try anything new with for the rest of his life. 

He opened the window and took some deep breaths before reminding himself he was still looking for a way out. But even if he found a way out, would there really ever be anyone else that wasn’t using him? No one ever really liked him. But Lenore seemed to enjoy spending time with him. She didn’t need to spend all of this time with him now that he was effectively enslaved forever and had to do her bidding. She didn’t need to give him freedom outside of forging for Styria, but she did.

Hector sighed, he gave up his search for puzzles in volume three. He’d go back to bed and hope he’d have better luck with later volumes tomorrow. 

As he fell asleep his head was filled with thoughts of how the way the woman in the book spoke to the young man she loved, like he was her pet, wasn’t too different from how Lenore spoke to Hector. Yes, he thought it was weird at first, then grew to like it, then hated it when he realized she was speaking down to him. He wondered now if it was simply a way she showed affection to him. Maybe it was a vampire thing. Or maybe it was a crazy person thing. Hector couldn’t think about it too much. He needed to sleep. 

Tomorrow night he had to focus on not accidentally saying anything stupid and avoiding suspicion about his daytime activities. There weren’t a lot of bodies for tomorrow, so Hector would have a short night. He had a feeling that even if she was busy working, his free time would be spent with her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The spider conversation early in this chapter was referencing my expanded take on the spider incident in [this fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26308390) I wrote about it, if you're interested in reading it.


	3. Chapter 3

Just as expected, Hector was done forging by the time Lenore normally came to collect him for his lunch break. Lenore took off time herself that day and planned to spend it with him. She took him for a picnic in the greenhouse first. They spoke about night creatures and dogs briefly. Hector felt sad being reminded of his pets. But he didn't want to say anything, so he kept smiling, hoping Lenore would change the subject soon. The next topic Lenore brought up was the council’s plans for the humans. Lenore didn’t want anything to surprise Hector at the next council meeting, and wanted to know what sorts of conditions he deemed acceptable in advance. If he had any specific requests she would be the one to bring it up and advocate for it, if necessary. 

Being considered like this was nice. It remained to be seen if Lenore would advocate for his ideas and if the council would actually do what he wanted, but Hector felt they really could stop humans from harming anyone else. Lenore agreed. Even though humans were naturally cruel, he knew plenty were driven to cruelty because they were trying to survive. If the council was able to provide adequate food and shelter, things might be better. From what he read vampires had fair knowledge of agricultural science. Even though they didn’t need vegetable crops, they knew how to increase yield and nutrition. They'd be able to share this with humans. Hector also realized they may even be able to equip the enclosed cities with plumbing or some sort of sewage system that would drastically reduce disease. Lenore mentioned that it would be a while before something like that could happen, but she thought it was a good idea and would advocate for it. He wondered if a voluntary or paid blood system might be possible as well and brought it up, 

“Would it be possible to establish some sort of system where you don’t have to kill people? Perhaps they could be paid for their blood. Human doctors bleed people all the time and call it medicine. Then they just throw the blood away. It seems like there might be a way to work out something once you have the humans contained.” 

“We’ve been getting a bit far ahead of ourselves.” Lenore began, things did seem to go off on a tangent once they went beyond basic conditions, “But yes, it is possible in theory.” there was a short pause before she continued, “Are you interested in being one of these volunteers?” 

“Ah… um…” Hector wasn’t expecting that. Yes, sometimes he caught a glimmer in her eyes that said she’d pounce on him and tear off of his clothes if he indicated he was willing here and there during their conversation… but that wasn’t anything new. Their conversation had stayed fairly professional until now, “... no.” he said no, but now he was wondering if he’d want to take that back. He wondered if Dracula had ever fed from Lisa. Based on what he knew of her, she’d have preferred that to him killing anyone else. 

Lenore smiled, seeing him blush and get a little panicked and confused. “Very well. The council probably wouldn’t be opposed to running experiments to test the efficiency of a voluntary blood system. But it’s too soon to bring up now,” she placed her hand over his, gently stroking the back of his hand with her fingers, “We’ll save that for later.”

Hector wasn’t sure if she was talking about the rest of humanity or him right now. He didn’t know if he should pull away. Her hand felt nice. But he knew it shouldn’t feel nice. He also didn’t want to upset her while maintaining some boundaries for the sake of it at the same time. He settled on waiting for her to move her hand. After a short while she did, but he caught that look in her eyes again. 

********************

  
  


After lunch, Lenore set out to take Hector on an extended tour of the castle. Their first stop was the tailor’s workshop. Some of Hector’s new clothes were finished, as were a new pair of boots and gloves for work. Most of the shirts were shades of blue or black. They were loose fitting. When left untied, they exposed Hector’s neck, and more of his chest than he was used to. He also noticed the breeches she had made for him were a little tighter in the back than he was previously accustomed to.

When it came to Lenore, he wasn’t sure if he could tell the difference between what was fake and what was real anymore, but he couldn’t help but blush when she joyfully praised the tailor, “You’re brilliant! He’s beautiful in everything…just like the perfect fairytale prince!” she held her face in her hands and happily sighed, “Thank you so much.”

Truth be told, Hector knew his situation was closer to that of a princess held captive by an evil queen… or the slightly kinder sister of an evil queen than that of a fairytale prince. But still, hearing Lenore call him pretty again felt nicer than it probably should have. 

Lenore told Hector he should leave his new garments on and that he needed to say “thank you” to the tailor as well. He did as he was told. Then she took him by the hand to finally get his in-depth tour of the castle underway. 

She pointed out little tips to help him remember his way around, and formally introduced him to a fair amount of the castle staff. They stopped by the armory and training grounds and the stables where the vampire horses of death were kept. The horses actually turned out to be quite friendly. 

Their next stops included the workshops of various artisans the castle employed. Lenore introduced Hector to the artist that she was going to have him sit for. That would take place a few months from now, a particular type of flower Lenore wanted Hector to pose with needed to come into bloom first. Following that they went to the smith forge. Even though Hector felt uneasy meeting the other vampire responsible for his enslavement, he hoped he could find a way to communicate with him unnoticed. He’d have to come back on his own. Maybe he’d be able to ask him if he helped Lenore use any other magic on him besides the ring. But how could he trust that whatever he asked wouldn’t make it’s way back to Lenore? Lenore seemed to be on very friendly terms with the blacksmith. It almost felt like he was a kind uncle or grandfather to her. Before they left he even patted Hector on the head and told him he was in good hands with Lenore. 

It was a strange experience. Hector decided he wasn’t going to be able to ask the blacksmith anything. 

Next Lenore showed Hector the kitchens and blood stores. He was free to take whatever food he wanted, or request particular meals. They could have just about anything imported, or make arrangements to grow new plants in the greenhouse. If there was anything Hector wanted all he had to do was ask. Following that he was shown the main courtroom, where larger meetings involving more than just the council were held. He was taken to their observatory, a music room, and finally the library. 

Hector did his best to commit the library’s location to memory. It wasn’t too far from Lenore’s chambers, and he might be able to find answers here. They stayed a little while at Hector’s request. He didn’t look around too much but took some time to browse the catalog. He saw a couple of magic books listed, but none of the  _ Love Spells _ anthology. In fact, he saw those particular books listed nowhere. Maybe he missed them? He’d come back here soon enough anyway, he could check again. Before they left he asked Lenore for any personal recommendations. He didn’t want to appear like he was looking for anything specific. 

“What kind of recommendation would you like?” she asked. 

“There’s so much here I’m not sure where to begin.” 

“Do you like romantic poetry?” 

“I can’t say I’m familiar enough with it to know if I like it.” Hector had never written any of his own, or received any, or really bothered to read any. His education revolved around reading the usual Grecian classics, the orthodox bible, magic, and alchemy books. He always assumed love poetry was the sort of thing that was for people in love, or people that were special to someone. What was the point when the rest of humanity thought you were repulsive? 

“I could recommend a few of those or… hmm… wait a minute.” Lenore thought for a moment, then flipped through the catalog and pointed to a title, “The author of that book was a forgemaster in her human life. It might interest you.” 

Hector was interested. Now that he knew where the book was, he could come back to read it during the day, after he’d made some progress with his current research. 

********************

When they returned to Lenore’s chambers she had a surprise waiting for Hector. The castle’s jeweler was waiting in the parlor with a velvet lined box. It contained an assortment of cufflinks. Lenore motioned for the box to be brought over and shown to Hector. 

“I wanted to get you something nice,” Lenore said, “have a look.”

“Thank you,” Hector wasn’t sure what the contents of the box were, but they looked exceptionally expensive. Of course he should expect that now. Only nobility could afford the clothing she had made for him, “you’ve given me so much already. Do I really need more? I’m not sure what these are.” 

“As much as I enjoy giving you nice things, you do need these. You have some formal shirts now. They’re a nicer means of keeping your sleeves closed than sewing them closed every night. Choose any pair you like.” 

Hector looked over everything in the box. A lot of pairs had gemstones. If he showed interest in any, the jeweler told him the size of the stone, it’s location of origin, and even where the gold or silver they were made from originated. He considered a pair with sapphires--Lenore seemed to like blue on him--but then noticed a less extravagant looking pair of silver bats. When he asked to have a closer look, he was told they were crafted from white gold produced by vampire alchemy. 

He wanted those, simply because he liked animals. They might have been the first thing he didn’t feel like he had to leave up to Lenore to choose for him. He still cautiously asked her if his choice was acceptable. “Is it alright if I choose these?” 

“I said you could choose any pair you like. Do you like them?” 

“Yes.” 

“Then they’re yours.” she took a step towards him and held out her hand, “If you’ll allow me, I’ll show you how to put them on.” 

Hector said nothing and extended his hand towards hers. She gently grasped his wrist and guided him closer to her before folding the cuff of his sleeve over. She turned his wrist slightly. She didn’t even need to apply the smallest amount of force. He followed her movements instinctively. Then, holding the two ends of the cuff together with one hand, she reached into the box with her other hands, took one of the cufflinks, slid it in, and fastened it. 

“There. It’s that simple.” Lenore said before letting go. His hand was frozen in place when she pulled away. He watched her take the second cufflink out of the box. Her hand moved back to his, still in the position she'd left it. She softly turned it, making his palm face up, and placed the cufflink in it, “Do you think you can figure this one out on your own?” 

There was silence for a moment before Hector slipped out of the daze he fell into, “...Yes. Thank you.” 

********************

After sharing dinner together they spent the rest of the night playing board games. Lenore gave Hector the option of spinning the board around if he felt cornered, it made up for her centuries of experience and offered her a new challenge. Hector thought it was nice. Tonight had been nice. Lenore was nice. Possibly crazy, but nice. After everything he was finding it harder to protest, and harder to hold back. If only she hadn’t tricked him… even if the results didn’t feel unpleasant. He had to try and find more reasons to not join her in bed and avoid her advances. Or maybe he should start to go along with some of them. It might make Lenore less likely to suspect him of trying to find a way out. But what if doing so made any other magic she used on him worse? What if he lost the desire to escape? He couldn’t understand why he was still so curious. 

No, he knew. It was because of everything he’d read in her study, and it was because of how seemingly kind she’d been to him. He had to ask, “... about the “training” you wanted to give me,” he averted his gaze, “...what was that going to involve?” 

“Lots of things.” Lenore smiled, “I’ll teach you exactly what I like. We’ll discover new things that you like. When you perform well you’ll be rewarded with activities you like, within reason.”

“... can I ask what sorts of things you like?” He shyly glanced back at her. Her eyes looked kind. 

“To start, allowing me to do more than give you head pets…” she smirked, and that particular glimmer returned to her eyes, “you already had a taste of some of what I like in the cell.” 

He felt himself blush. He was almost certain that was a double entendre. But he was hesitant to ask her to confirm that. “..what if we happen to like the same things?” 

“You’ll be rewarded very often.” she paused and listened to Hector’s heart race, “We can start slowly. You won’t have to do anything you don’t want to.” 

Hector wanted to say yes. He was tired of denying it. But he had no idea how much of what they did that night was real and how much of it was simply a trick designed to trap him. After all, could she really have enjoyed it so much if she was able to slip a ring on his finger and get him to make an oath? How much of what he was feeling were just the results of some spell she’d placed on him from the start? He couldn’t give in. He had to research until he found answers. Once he found an answer, if things were truly hopeless he decided he’d give in and enjoy himself, and try to forget what she did to him. But he couldn’t do that just yet. He furrowed his brows and asked with a tinge of sorrow in his voice, “Why haven’t you forced me?”

Lenore sighed and smiled sadly, “That wouldn’t be very fun. Besides, some things simply can’t be forced. Romance is one of them.” 

Hector struggled with his thoughts, but ended the evening by declining Lenore’s offer again. She seemed sad, but didn’t press further. Before retiring for the night she once again told Hector that her door was always open if he changed his mind. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few things, relevant to this chapter, historically speaking:   
> 1) Bloodletting was something doctors did back in the day, it’s believed to have contributed to the death of George Washington.   
> 2) Books were *very* expensive, especially before the invention of the printing press, so a lot of libraries had books chained to the walls. In this fic Castle Styria’s general library is still like this because it's very old, and because I think Carmilla would have stingy policies in place. So Hector couldn’t just walk off with any of the books in there.


	4. Chapter 4

As he’d been doing for about a week now, Hector woke up around noon again and crept into Lenore’s office with a blanket to read. He once again opened the curtain, let a nice sunbeam in, and sat in her comfortable chair with the next book in the  _ Love Spells _ anthology. 

Thankfully volume 4 was in Greek. This volume appeared to be another collection of poems, like the first. But instead of seeming to be poems lovers would write back and forth to each other, these poems were longer and told stories about lovers. 

There was one lengthy poem in sapphic meter about a vampire queen and her most trusted advisor. It told the story of how the queen came into power, then of the peaceful moments they shared throughout the centuries. Eventually they faltered, as most rulers inevitably do with time, as humans in their area became too well organized and powerful. They could die fighting, or choose to abandon everything. They chose the latter and abandoned everything, except for each other and their little vampire dog, and ran away together. 

He sighed after finishing that poem. He could only think about how nice it would have been to run away with Lenore… and to have his pets with them. But he was the pet now, except she also wanted him as a lover, but not quite a lover. He was something between a pet and a concubine he couldn’t fully understand. 

There were two more poems about couples that sired dogs together. It was an interesting notion. Lenore was the only vampire he’d met to ever talk about animals in a positive way. None of the vampires in Dracula's court ever talked about non-human pets. It never occurred to him that they could like animals too, in their own sort of way.

This volume also contained a series of sonnets that told a story about vampire men. It started with a vampire man laying eyes on a human and becoming so consumed with lust, that he turned him without thinking. The two fell in love and spent a century together, even siring a new vampire jointly, before the relationship unraveled. They split up, but neither ever truly got over the other. They kept running into each other every couple of decades, getting back together, then breaking up all over again ad nauseum. 

The poems in this volume that had mention of turning others into vampires stood out most to Hector for some reason. He wondered what the motivating factor behind it was, if there was one. Clearly in that last poem the man sired the human because he wanted to take him as a lover, but they also sired another to be their ‘child’ in a manner of speaking. The women in the other poem (as well as several other couples) sired a dog for what seemed to be the same purpose. The relationships between sire and sired were entirely different in each case. But they all seemed to relate to a desire for a deeper connection.

But then there was another poem, about a human woman and a vampire man. He'd grown tired of immortality. Then one day a human woman walked into his life, asking for access to all of the knowledge vampires had accumulated over time. In doing so, she showed him a new perspective on reality. They lived together for some years. They even had a child together. He didn’t appear to treat her like a pet, if anything, she seemed to treat him--a vampire one hundred times stronger than her--like a pet sometimes! They were clearly in love, but she was never turned. The topic never even came up. She died and the poem abruptly ended. It seemed unfinished.

Hector wondered if the council didn't need his human magic, and if Lenore truly liked him, perhaps if she had met him first… before Carmilla did, before Dracula did… would she have turned him by now? Had Lenore ever considered it? Carmilla insisted Dracula couldn’t have loved his wife because he never turned her. But the Dracula Hector knew had to have loved his wife. He knew he loved her. There had to be a reason. Maybe it was something she and Dracula never discussed. Maybe Lisa didn't want it because she risked losing something. Dracula never owed answers to anyone. 

It might seem like a regular human only had something to gain in becoming a vampire but a forgemaster would lose so much. Vampires can’t forge. If Hector were turned he'd lose everything. For most of his life he never thought he was particularly special, but too recently, and perhaps too late, he came to realize something. Humans were repulsed by his abilities and shunned him for it. Vampires were fascinated by his abilities and wanted to control him for it. His abilities were all he was to the world. His abilities were all anyone ever saw in him. Without them, what was left? He couldn’t imagine it. 

He spent less time inspecting this volume for secrets than he did with earlier volumes. The stories it contained at face value already gave him a lot to think about. 

  
  


Volume 5 was in German and volume 6 was in English. Hector knew this might happen. In his disappointment, he visually scrutinized both as best he could. Nothing was found. The books were carefully and quietly placed back on the shelf. 

Next was volume 8. Hector feared it would be in yet another language. He smiled when he opened the book and saw Latin. There was no meter, only prose. It seemed to be one story at first glance. But it was slightly more than a story, philosophy concerning vampire-human relationships was woven into the narrative. 

This story was told from the perspective of a vampire woman. She’d been lonely for centuries. It came with her rise to power. Her high status in the vampire world ruled out the possibility of most serious relationships. Generally a vampire in her position would just turn someone if they wanted a lover. But she’d been given advice once, _“Real love is found, not sired.”_ and based on all of her observations, it wasn’t wrong. 

Hector thought back to the other volume of poems. The relationships where a human was sired to be a lover didn’t end well. All of the other relationships were already established.

The advice was disheartening to say the least. Finding another vampire that could be trusted, wasn’t a security risk, and that she was also compatible with proved to be a sisyphean task. 

When it came to turning a human, she knew all too well that the sire bond was no guarantee of loyalty, love, or anything. As much as some vampires continued to deny the fact, it was purely psychological, not physical or magical. She wondered if love could be both found and sired, by getting to know the human first and giving them a choice. The few friends she considered her family, and all of the advice she found in books cautioned her against that: 

_ “They’re not us. Turning changes you, you know this. You might go mad missing what was gone.”  _

_ “Even if a choice is offered, is it really a choice? There is no way one can understand the consequences of entering this life without having already experienced it. It’s inconsequential.”  _

_ “As much as many of us deny it, we have some things in common with animals. When you sire one, some of what you might have had in common with them can change.” _

_ “They will change. We all experienced this ourselves. We can remember the details of that life, but as we live longer, and grow further away from it, we forget what we were.” _

She heeded these warnings for a while. She tried to find happiness with her friends and occasional trysts, but her loneliness remained. She loved her friends, they trusted each other with their lives, but there were ways in which they could never relate. There were certain joys and sorrows she couldn't share with them. Even though they accepted her as she was, it was apparent a piece of herself would never fit in or be appreciated. Having to suppress a piece of yourself forever was enough to drive anyone insane. 

As time went on, she began to question the advice she’d been given. The books only included second hand accounts of extended vampire-human relationships that didn’t end well. Half of which were about vampires that decided to drive said humans to insanity before turning them! She wasn't interested in that. She wanted a sweet human puppy that she could potentially turn into a sweet vampire puppy someday--as vampire puppies didn’t seem to exist otherwise. Things already seemed hopeless enough. So she decided, when the time was right, she’d find a willing human to be her pet, and see how things went from there. 

Her friends thought keeping pets was absurd, but they also thought liking animals as much as she did was childish. Well, they never said that directly, but they teased her enough for it. And these were the non-human animals! That was just one part of herself she felt she had to suppress around them. 

What was the worst that could happen, being teased by her friends a little? They already did that anyway. Spending a few decades of her eternal life caring for a pet if she never sired them? If siring ever came up she’d deal with that problem then. 

She could have found a human immediately, but she didn’t want to just abduct one. That was far too cliché and wouldn’t be romantic. She wanted to find a sweet human that needed to be taken care of and guided. One that would want to stay with her. 

She took nightly walks, listening for any situation a human might need rescue from: other humans attacking, wild animals attacking, or simply a human running away from whatever life they had before and not caring about where they'd end up. But it would be a while before fate would place a human in her path. She spent this time preparing the perfect room in her castle for a human. As well, she researched the optimal diet for human longevity and had a greenhouse built. Whatever human she acquired would be well-fed year round. 

The stars finally aligned one night after a brutal storm had passed. It was so severe even some of the castle would need repairs. But there was a prize to be found in it all. She happened upon a gorgeous shipwrecked human on her shores. There was a lengthy passage describing how beautiful he looked as he barely clung to life. An exhausted dog guarded his body. This was what the woman had been dreaming of. 

She pet the dog and told them not to worry, she'd be taking good care of his human. The dog seemed to believe her. As she carried the man back to her castle the dog followed close behind. It seemed this human came with a dog too. 

She personally tended to his injuries when they were safely at home. As the man recovered she brought him dinner each night, and they exchanged stories. She seemed to speak to the man and his dog in exactly the same manner, but she was kind to them. It wasn’t entirely unlike the way Lenore spoke to Hector. She never concealed the fact that she was a vampire. The man was fearful initially, but all fear left him when he noticed that his dog seemed to like her.

Reading that made Hector wonder what Cezar would think of Lenore. Then again Cezar liked Carmilla at first just because she gave him a few pets. He sighed. Cezar was a good dog, but he wasn't the brightest. Hector smiled to himself, as he realized the irony. Did he really have the right to judge Cezar's intelligence after all of the tricks he fell for in the past two months? 

Hector missed Cezar terribly. He felt a lot of guilt for abandoning him and the other animals he cared for, even if it was Carmilla's fault. 

Lenore seemed to be willing to give Hector whatever he wanted except his freedom. Reuniting him with his pets if they were still alive shouldn't be an unreasonable demand. But even if it was, they made him a slave, he was building their entire fucking army, they owed him at least that much! 

Hector decided he'd find a way to ask Lenore to let him send some of his night creatures out to look for his pets. He was upset enough to do it without their permission. It wasn’t any form of betrayal. The ring wouldn’t stop him. The only problem was that the council could still override any orders he gave to his night creatures. He put the book down for a moment, took a blank piece of paper and wrote down a few things he might say to Lenore. He wanted to make sure she didn’t mix his words around and that his demands were clear. Or it started out that way, then he went on to write down some choice words he wouldn't risk saying to the council before scribbling them out. The mere act of writing them down gave him some catharsis. But he still had more to think about. 

Even if his animals were still alive, and they were reunited, escaping would become even harder. He wasn't going to leave them again if he found a way out. Would having his pets here mean accepting his life here? Accepting slavery? Maybe it did. Maybe he stopped caring…or maybe it was simply what was best for his pets, and that was what he really wanted all along. 

If he had to admit it to himself, a quiet peaceful life with his pets, unharassed by humans was what he wanted. Having a friend or a lover would have been perfect. But that was a far-off, if not impossible dream. And yet that ideal life almost seemed possible here… but what was he to Lenore? There was still so much he didn't understand, but the book might have answers. So, Hector resumed reading.

  
  


The human was better than anything the woman ever dreamed of. He was sweet and affectionate, the perfect human puppy! She found that when she spent time with him, she didn't have to hold back the piece of herself that didn't fit in anywhere else. This was its place. It was so much fun spoiling the boy, lavishing him with gifts, and seeing the awe and wonder in his eyes as she taught him things about vampire culture most humans would never learn. He was particularly adorable when flirted with. 

When he fully recovered, he was informed he was free to go. But if he liked, he could stay as long as he wanted. Again the stars aligned. The man didn't have much of a home to return to. The time spent in her castle was the most stability he'd ever known and he’d fallen in love with her during his stay. He told her he wanted to stay and confessed his feelings in a heartfelt speech. They made love that night. 

From this point on the book was filled with explicitly detailed love making. 

Hector came to notice that a common theme ran throughout all of these books: the woman always took the lead when they were with men. She was always in charge, no matter the situation, her rank, or her species. She was always in control during sex, regardless of the position. 

This book took that trope to the extreme. The more he read, the more explicit sex the two of them had, the harder it became for Hector to focus. The couple made love normally, but she also made full use of her vampiric strength sometimes. She’d hold him up, pin him down, get him impossibly close to climax only to transform into mist and reform, over and over again until his voice gave out from begging. 

He tried to ignore the feelings these pages aroused in him, as he had every other time, but fighting this wouldn’t work. There was another vivid scene, she had him on a leash, on top of her. She told him exactly what to do, she loved how well he took direction. He did everything exactly the way she liked it. She loved how eager he was to please her. Then things began feeling far too familiar for comfort. As she drew nearer to climax she gently commanded him to say things to her: 

_ “Tell me you’re mine.” _

_ “Tell me you belong to me.” _

_ “Tell you’ll always be mine.”  _

_ “Tell me you’ll be loyal to me.”  _

_ “Tell me you’ll always be my good boy.”  _

She eventually settled on one of them,  _ "Tell me you belong to me. Keep saying it." _

But it ended nicely here. She didn’t slip some slave ring on him that sent shockwaves of pain through his body two seconds before he had the chance to finish. Each affirmation he uttered sent waves of pleasure through her and brought her closer to climax. She came and gave him permission to come with her. Afterwards she cuddled him and praised what a good job he did for her. 

Why couldn’t it have been that way with Lenore? Thinking back to that night, Hector couldn’t even remember what happened immediately afterwards… he’d blacked out. The next thing he knew she was pulling him by the hand around the castle with guards in tow. She must have helped him get dressed. He didn’t remember that. She tried to comfort him later but he wanted nothing to do with her… he knew he should still be upset with her now. But that seemed impossible with the feelings he still had between his legs. 

Was the passage he just read how it could have been with Lenore if things happened differently? Could things be this way now if he gave her a chance?

Hector continued to read. What followed wasn’t even graphic, just her thoughts about what a rare and special treasure this human was to her, and how happy she was to have someone like him in her life. Hector couldn’t hold back anymore. He bit the sleeve of his nightshirt and slipped his arm inside. He shoved more of the sleeve into his mouth to keep quiet. He thought of being that wanted, that treasured… And just like that he could think clearly again. God, he felt pathetic now. He was a little worried Lenore heard, but he told himself it would be fine since she never said anything about any of the other times this happened. Even if she did hear him, at least she wouldn’t have any way of knowing what he was thinking about. 

The story continued, there was lengthy drama with the woman’s friends that was ultimately portrayed as harmless. And eventually, the man did want to return to his village. He never had much of a home there, but there were a few people he wanted to let know he was still alive. As much as it upset her, and as much as she didn’t want him to, she allowed it. But only on the condition that he was armed and took a transmission mirror with him so he could call her for help if anything happened. 

Everything was mundane again while he was away. Then a Belmont attacked. The vampire was strong enough to hold them off for a while, but she wouldn’t be able to keep it up forever. They were still fighting when the man returned. He tried to end the fight peacefully and reason with the Belmont, but his words fell on deaf ears. They didn’t make a bad distraction. The two of them managed to take out the Belmont together, though she suffered great injuries in the process.

The extent of her wounds horrified the boy. He knew they'd heal slowly over time as she fed, but he couldn’t stand to see her suffer. He offered her his own blood. In her injured state, she was unable to hold back and overfed. She came to her senses again when she felt his dog begin to paw at her. She realized she’d taken too much blood. 

She never wanted to turn him without asking, but he might die if she left him to heal on his own. There was no treatment that would save this life for him. She wanted this to be his choice, but she refused to let him go. She loved him too much. The turning process was described in detail, as was how she planned to care for him when he was completely helpless and dependent on her in the beginning.

He should have woken up in his new life next, but Hector had no idea what happened. The language abruptly changed into one he couldn’t read. He was stunned. The entire second half of the book was in German. 

Was this a joke? He knew there would be volumes he couldn’t read but never expected one to change languages in the middle of the story. He sighed in frustration, then looked out the window and realized he’d done it again. It was almost dusk. He was up all day reading, and he’d gotten so sucked into the story he forgot he was looking for magic. He almost didn’t care that he forgot about the magic. He wasn’t even sure if these were magic books anymore. He just wanted to know more of the story now. He had so many questions. 

How much would the man change? Would she still speak to him the same way she spoke to the dog? Was she going to treat him differently? How was he going to react to the whole thing in the first place?? 

Those questions would remain unanswered until Hector learned enough German, or until he asked Lenore… if she answered them. 

He closed the book and placed it back on the shelf. He might still be able to get two hours of sleep if he was lucky. He’d need them. If he looked too tired Lenore would definitely have questions. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: This chapter might come off as gaslighty/manipulative depending on how you interpret this ship. Anyway, I'm leaving the interpretation of this chapter up to the reader for now. I'll clarify when the fic is over if anyone wants clarification.

Hector had a vivid dream in what remained of the day. Lenore was kissing him again, biting his lips, and playing with his hair like she did that night. Except it didn't end like that night. They ran away together. He made a giant bat-like night creature designed with wings that could block out the sunlight to protect her during the day if they didn’t find shelter. They ended up somewhere warm. Cezar was there too. Everything was nice between Lenore and himself, there'd been no hurt, no betrayal. They were just an oddly kind vampire and her good boy. 

He was happy when he woke up, until the realization that it was just a dream hit him. Initially he only had a slim hope of  _ maybe _ escaping on his own. Now he wondered if running away with Lenore might still happen someday. The time he spent with her yesterday was nice. He couldn’t shake how similar the way she treated him was to how all of the women in those stories treated the men they loved. Even if that “love” wasn’t something he completely understood. But he’d never get anything done if he kept thinking about this now. At least the night creature in that dream was interesting. He thought about trying to make one like that later, until he realized how much later than normal he'd woken up. 

Hector ran to the chest where his clothing was kept for the time being in a panic. He needed to get dressed and get to the forge as quickly as possible. He'd been on reasonably good terms with Striga and didn’t want to cause any problems by being late tonight. But just as his hand touched the lid of the chest, the scent of jasmine and wine hit him. 

Lenore stopped his hand. Hector backed away in surprise.

“Sorry,” she softly said, “I didn’t mean to surprise you. But it’s fine. You can go back to sleep.” 

Hector looked back at her in confusion.

“I negotiated one day a week off for you. You’ll have a little more work tomorrow but you don’t have to go in today.” 

He squinted, “Carmilla didn’t object to that?” 

“She did. But the rest of us don’t want you collapsing from exhaustion.” she smiled and pat his head, “So she agreed.” 

“Thank you” he resigned as he averted his gaze. Hector knew he would have been fine working every day. He worked every day for Dracula without issue. Setting his own hours here would have been preferable though. But he understood his schedule needed to align with Striga’s. 

“Your welcome. You can go back to sleep now.” she took his hand, to lead him back to the daybed he’d been sleeping on.

He didn’t pull away, but voiced a few words in gentle protest, “I think I’m past that now.” 

“Well, if you're awake anyway I may as well tell you the good news” she stopped and spun around to face him, “your pets are fine.” 

“What?” he was confused again, and more awake now than he’d been before. He never mentioned his pets to her. How did she know? Did Carmilla tell her? No. Carmilla was incapable of caring about anyone but herself. 

He felt his body begin to tense up when he realized the answer to his own question. The paper he’d written on during the day. He left it on her desk. She wasn’t supposed to see that. 

“You had four of them, yes?” 

“...yes.” he realized Lenore didn’t seem upset, but he couldn’t begin to relax yet. He was upset when he organized his thoughts on that piece of paper. Even though at least half of it had been crossed out, it still included things he wouldn’t actually say to her. 

“I found them with the transmission mirror. Some of your night creatures are on their way to retrieve them as we speak.” 

“Can I see them?” he asked with cautious optimism. 

“Of course,” she took his hand, speaking as she led him to her office ,  “I know how heartbroken you must be.”

Lenore opened a small box on her desk, and a transmission mirror formed before them. Dracula had one of these, but it was larger. This one was probably too small to send objects through, or to pull small animals through if that was possible. 

She focused her intent, and an image became visible. An undead cat, fox, and little dog were all huddled together sleeping in a den of some sort while an owl sat perched in a tree above them. 

“See, they’re all fine.” she placed her hand on his back. 

Hector’s eyes were fixed on the mirror. He extended his trembling hand towards it, wanting to touch them, even though he knew he couldn’t. After a moment, when he was certain it was them, he breathed a sigh of relief. They were all ok, and they had each other. He couldn’t even begin to think about how they might have escaped the castle after whatever happened to it in Braila. Tears formed in his eyes. 

“I have a general idea of where they are in Wallachia,” she said, “They should be back with you by the time the outbuilding is finished. Would you also like to see the night creatures I sent?” 

He didn’t answer. He stared at the image for a little while longer before turning to Lenore and hugging her. “Thank you.” 

“Your welcome,” she returned the embrace, “I’m happy you’ve finally asked for something.” 

Just as suspected, she found out because of the paper he was careless enough to leave on the desk. Hector gently pulled away. “Y-you’re not upset?” 

“No. I can only imagine how heartbroken I’d be in the same situation. I wouldn’t hesitate to use every resource at my disposal if you were ever separated from me.” she smiled sadly, “But I am disappointed in the language you chose to use.” she produced the piece of paper and frowned. Hector’s eyes grew wide, “This isn’t the kind of language good boys use, even if it was scribbled out.” 

Hector brought his palm to his face, “I was upset,” he sighed, “I was only trying to... organize my thoughts… I didn’t want my words to be twisted around later. You weren’t supposed to see that.” 

“You only needed to ask. There’s never been any need for animosity.” 

“But there was a need for this?” Exhausted sorrow was in his eyes as he held up his left hand. 

“This again?” she sighed, “Sit down.” 

He did as she said and sat down in the chair at her desk. He knew rebelling wouldn’t do any good. 

“I don’t know if I can put it into words you can understand.” she began slowly pacing back and forth, "There are just some things humans can't understand even if-" she stopped pacing and turned to address Hector, “You understand pets." 

Hector gave her a confused nod. 

Lenore continued, "I have a question for you. If you caught a sparrow with a broken wing, what would you do?” 

“I’d take care of them.” That was the obvious answer. What kind of monster would just let a poor innocent bird suffer and die? 

“I would do the same,” she smiled, "Now suppose in the act of making a splint, you momentarily caused the sparrow greater pain than what they’re already experiencing. Would you expect the sparrow to understand that you were helping them? Suppose they recover fully. Would they be able to understand the temporary pain you inflicted on them was an act of compassion?” 

Hector furrowed his brows and thought for a moment, then looked away, “...a splint is completely different from a slave ring,” his cheeks went pink, “and I’m not an injured sparrow.” 

“Of course you aren’t. You’re a human puppy.” she smiled again, seeing him blush even harder, “Anyway, would you release the sparrow when they recover?” 

“Of course I would!” he still didn’t understand where this story was going or what the point of it was. 

“But what if they never fully recover? What if they were never able to fly normally to begin with? Or what if they were an albino? Would you still release them, knowing they’d make easy prey?” 

He sighed, realizing where this was going, “No…” Even with him being the sparrow she had a point about keeping him. He'd inevitably encounter angry humans again if he was free, or more vampires that want him to build them hoards. He didn’t want to be held here against his will, but on his own he might need his own hoards just to live in seclusion. It still didn’t make complete sense, but even if the sparrow grew to trust their rescuer overtime they’d never understand the purpose of the splint. “I'd adopt them."

"Do you have a better idea now?" 

He averted his gaze and furrowed his brows. He tried to think of anything he could, or of any counterargument to what she was saying and nothing came to mind. He didn’t want to admit it. Sensing this, Lenore decided to add more to the hypothetical sparrow scenario. 

“Let’s also suppose this albino sparrow is very special. They’re miraculously capable of understanding higher level mathematics. They enjoy higher level mathematics, and have great potential, but they can only get so far on their own. Worrying about their own survival hinders any growth they might make. Other sparrows aren’t even capable of appreciating their work. But you have the ability to meet all of the sparrow’s basic needs, in addition to everything else they need to realize their full potential.” 

He looked up at her, sad and tired. He could admit it to himself now, even if he didn’t want to say it out loud. Hector wasn’t tired just for lack of sleep. One other thing still bothered him about his situation, it confused him in the most recent book he read too. 

He started to enjoy the way she spoke to him again, after reading those books. He liked belonging to someone that wanted him. Maybe things between them could have been more like it was in that book if those types of stories could actually happen in real life. He liked being her good boy. But he wanted to be her lover too. His feelings and the way she treated him made the question of what his status was confusing. "Well, I wouldn’t have sex with the sparrow." 

Lenore laughed softly, "I wouldn’t either."

"Then why do you want to have sex with me?" He looked at her, still confused.

"I like you. You're interesting. I enjoy spending time with you. I find you attractive, and you take direction well."

"But I'm your pet?" 

"Yes."

"I don’t understand." 

"That's something you won't be able to understand now.” she pat his head as he stared back up at her with sad puppy eyes, “But a human pet is the only kind I'd have sex with." 

He wouldn't understand it now. He wondered if it would make sense if he was a vampire. Would Lenore want to make him one someday? From what he read they turned others to gain lovers, or to gain some sort of pets or children. Maybe there was some sort of overlap for them. He seemed to be some combination of the two, even if "pet" was the word that was used. Somehow it was a more endearing term than concubine or consort, or whatever he'd be called if he didn’t have the traits that made him her good boy.

"If I was a vampire… would it be different?" 

Lenore frowned and looked away for a moment, "It wouldn’t be as fun for the both of us." 

"... what do you mean?" What was she talking about? Was it like in that book?

"I can't promise it will all make sense to you," She smiled and touched his cheek, "But there's a lot I'd love to teach you, if you'd let me." 

Lenore had to be talking about some of what he read in that book during the day. He blushed and looked away, "I see." he said hoping she'd change the subject. He still wasn’t happy, but he was less confused. At the very least it was easier for him to accept the things he didn't understand. 

“I’m glad we cleared that up as best we can, but back to the language you used in this,” she held up the paper again, “I can't just let this slide.”

He went pink again. After all of that he was still in trouble? He hadn't made her truly angry since their first meeting. She’d been comparatively kind to him since. He hoped this wouldn't be too bad. “I’m sorry.” 

“Don't fret," she said softly, "Answer one question for me and I’ll consider it forgiven.” 

“What’s the question?” he asked cautiously. 

Lenore's lips twisted into an innocent smile, “When you’re up during the day, what thoughts are running through your head while you’re making those pretty noises gratifying yourself?” 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!! I'm looking forward to any comments/predictions! 
> 
> If you're interested in more things related to LenectorWeekend2021, check out [@LenectorWeek](https://www.twitter.com/lenectorweek) on twitter for more info (18+ only please, nsfw content is retweeted sometimes)


End file.
